The story is set in Wisconsin and if there ever was a true-to-name second-chance love story this is it. Charlie and Vivian were married for a couple of years in their 20s, later after they divorced, Charlie moved away to Canada for his work with the railroad. Now, 40 years later, in his 60s Charlie has returned to Wisconsin after retirement and inheriting a house from his late uncle.
Charlie has always kept Vivian in his heart, he's regretted having gone through a divorce with her only to remember and love her ever since. His return is heavily influenced by his desire to reunite with or at least have Vivian back in his life as a friend. He finds her on Facebook, gets in touch and they’ve been exchanging messages ever since. Once back in Wisconsin, living and renovating the house he's inherited, Charlie meets up with Vivian at a local bar. At the end of the date they kiss and later both hope this is the start of something - friendship, a reconnection or maybe more. One thing they both know is they liked the kiss too much to not make it happen again.
They are both at a point in life where they are single and have nothing stopping them to pursue a relationship or at least see where it can go. Will it remain just a forty-year kiss? Or turn into kisses making up for the forty years they missed out on?
To start with, this is a story about a couple in their 60s, so keep that in mind before you start reading. The pace will be different in terms of the couple's interactions, their dynamics, reminiscing about their pasts and likewise. Though the slow pace got to me at times even when I knew it was kind of expected and unavoidable. I found it rather amusing as at the start the way Vivian deals with Charlie's return is rather teenage-like. Her life suddenly has so much hope and colour in it. She feels like a teenager with Charlie going out on dates, texting, having long conversations, and introducing her grandkids, this time all without any expectations or the teenage curfews.
Vivian has had a tough life after her divorce from Charlie and she doesn't have much to show for her life in the last 40 years. Charlie on the other hand has had a somewhat messy yet lonely life, so this rebound though it carries a lot of promise, both of them are treading carefully. Neither wants to expect too high and set themselves up for heartbreak again. So while there are a lot of kisses happening, there's also healing for both of them and doing things the right or better way this time around.
Both Charlie and Vivian are mature now with life lessons under their belts and they deal well with their personal and joint emotional baggage. I loved seeing that for them, it's heart-warming.
Some second chances are heart-warming and sweet and feel like they were written in the stars for the couple, A FORTY YEAR KISS will give this feeling. I hope you pick up a copy and enjoy reading this second-chance love story.
From the critically acclaimed author of Shotgun Lovesongs comes an exquisitely written, small-town story about one couple's hard-won second chance at love, forty years after their divorce.
Charlie and Vivian parted ways after just four years of marriage. Too many problems, too many struggles, even though the love didn't quite die. When Charlie returns to Wisconsin forty years later, he's not sure what he'll find. He is sure of one thing -- he must try to reconnect with Vivian to pick up the broken pieces of their past. But forty years is a long time. It's forty years of other relationships, forty years of building new lives, and forty years of long-held regrets, mistakes, and painful secrets.
A brave and triumphant exploration of redemption and sunset triumph, A Forty Year Kiss is a once-in-a-lifetime love story, written with dazzling lyricism and remarkable clarity of spirit, from a celebrated author at the top of his game. It's a literary valentine that promises to be a love story for the ages.
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